14 DAY TRIAL // Apple engineers are working hard to release new software in time for the fall. Until then, new Betas come out today and the developers are being asked to shift their focus to test the new features.
Safari 7.1 (for OS X Mavericks) and 6.2 (for OS X Mountain Lion) will be the final big releases before everyone switches to OS X Yosemite. That doesn't mean Apple is not working to have a strong browser for users that will be left behind or will choose, for a while, not to go for OS X Yosemite.
In the new releases, developers are asked to focus on new features like passwords auto-fill and test new extensions. Safari 7.1 requires OS X 10.9.4 and Safari 6.2 needs to be installed on OS X 10.8.5.
Apple says the Focus Areas for these builds are:
- Password and credit card AutoFill
- Please test general website compatibility.
- Subpixel rendering is now on by default for all web content. Web sites or in-app web views with extremely tight design constraints may render differently.
- CSS object model getters will return fractional double values based on subpixel layout and rendering metrics instead of rounded integral values.
- Extension compatibility.
New WebKit Features
- WebGL. Safari support for WebGL allows developers to create 3D experiences that work natively without plug-ins.
- IndexedDB. The IndexedDB API allows web developers to store structured data for web applications that work online or require large amounts of data to be cached client side.
- JavaScript Promises. Safari enables JavaScript authors to more naturally work with asynchronous programming patterns.
- CSS Shapes and Compositing. Using CSS, websites can now easily flow text around images and geometry shapes, and perform image compositing operations on DOM elements.
It is important to notice that these are the last versions of Safari with the old metal look. Safari 8 for OS X Yosemite will sport a brand-new feel, complete with a Smart Search Bar and New Tabs Overview.
The Smart Search Bar is truly a smart addition to the browser. It only shows the domain when not in use, but if you click on it, you will get the full URL. Typing a word will bring real-time Wikipedia definitions, Google suggestions and browser history listings. The future browser will get you finer privacy controls, new sharing options and an over-all faster performance.